While the moviegoing public still knows Chris Hemsworth best as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor, the actor now has another action-related role he’ll reprise in the coming years. Hemsworth debuted as mercenary Tyler Rake last year in Netflix’s Extraction, and a little over a week after the movie premiered, it was reported that the streaming service was developing the sequel. Now Extraction 2 is gearing up to begin filming, only now this portion of the filmmaking process will be happening elsewhere in response to COVID-19 shutdown concerns.
Originally Extraction 2 was going to film in Australia, but last Friday, the crew, which was in preparation mode in New South Wales, was informed by Netflix and producers Joe and Anthony Russo’s production company AGBO Productions that they’d be packing up shop. Now Extraction 2 will shoot in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, with Variety reporting that Chris Hemsworth’s schedule and the “growing uncertainties associated with shooting in Australia” paved the way for relocation. New South Wales is in lockdown until September 30 in response to the COVID-19 delta variant, along with Sydney and Melbourne, which are other major filming locations in the country.
This shooting location change for Extraction 2 comes right after Russell Crowe’s next movie, Poker Face, shut down filming in Australia after there was a confirmed COVID-19 case among the crew. As far as Chris Hemsworth is concerned, he’ll head back to the Land Down Under in either November or December to start preproduction on the Mad Max prequel spinoff Furiosa. But for the next few months, he’ll be kept occupied in Prague for his next Tyler Rake outing since, as the pandemic rages on, that’s now a safer environment compared to Australia. The first Extraction movie filmed across India and Thailand.
Based off the graphic novel Ciudad by Ande Parks, Extraction followed Tyler Rake embarking on a mission to Dhaka, Bangladesh to rescue the kidnapped son of an Indian crime lord. Chris Hemsworth’s co-stars included Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, Golshifteh Farahani and Pankaj Tripathi, among others. Along with appearing as Tyler’s partner C, Sam Hargrave directed the feature off a script written by Joe Russo. In July 2020, Netflix reported that Extraction had been watched by 99 million households in its first four weeks of availability. Critically speaking, Extraction was met with mixed reception, ranking at 67% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
No plot details for Extraction 2 have been revealed yet, but along with Chris Hemsworth returning, Sam Hargrave and Joe Russo are reprising their respective directorial and script-writing roles. And it may go without saying, but there’s already been thought poured into stretching the Extraction journey past a sequel. In November 2020, Hemsworth said that he and the rest of the Extraction team were going to try to make “another couple more” for the fans, and the following month, the Russo brothers mentioned that they’re interested in developing a cinematic universe to spotlight other characters away from the main film series.
For now, we’ll keep you apprised on how Extraction 2 is coming along as more information trickles in. You can keep track of what Netflix will be released next month with our September 2021 guide.
